EVENING FACT United in respect for others, but with new ideas?

France is experiencing a period of political doubts. The Government is struggling to find a sincere majority and the oppositions are waiting for the first mistake to make their move, once again, and bring down the Prime Minister.

In Nîmes, the Left opposition is doing well and seems less diverse, more united, than at the national level. The common objective has been clear since the last elections: to take back the town hall from the Right while avoiding a passage through the extreme right.

In attendance were Vincent Bouget, president of the Nîmes Citoyenne À Gauche group, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, departmental councilor of Gard, Jo Menut, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, Corinne Giacometti, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, Sylvette Fayet, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, Christian Bastid, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, vice-president of the Gard Departmental Council, Pierre-Edouard Détrez, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes and Marianne Bernède was absent, but excused.

Bruno Ferrier, municipal and community councilor of Nîmes, launches the debates: “ We are still being cut off from speaking at the Municipal Council even though we are fighting to make the voices of the people of Nîmes heard. We want the people of Nîmes to feel free! »

The Left, in its plurality, had responded to the call of wishes. Vincent Bouget begins his speech. “ It is a great pleasure, renewed now for three years, to meet you again, to meet again to share this moment of conviviality at the dawn of a new year. A pleasure to do it here, in this cinema so precious to our city, which has resisted economic difficulties and ups and downs for years, and maintains programming and activity contributing to the development of cinematographic diversity and the life of our territory. »

The wishes were held at Semaphore, not by default, but almost. The Paul-Calabro room, at the Costières stadium, is no longer accessible, so we had to find a place to fall back. Ideally placed, accessible and close to the Prolé where the friendly drink was to be shared immediately, the Sémaphore was a great help. Unfortunately, nearly 100 people had to be turned away at the entrance due to security conditions. The room could only accommodate 200 guests.

And, the Nîmes elected official continues after international wishes where he would like his city to join the list of “Mayors for Peace”. Then, return to Nîmes. “Since our election, with an average of 8 interventions per Council… there are 225 interventions in Municipal Council and nearly 250 in Community Council. We intervened regularly to question, sometimes to support or conversely criticize, and often to propose. We did it on all subjects. I mean all the subjects. Town planning, roads, urban renovation, museum pricing, traffic and security, public transport and soft mobility, sports, culture, gender equality, Halles, activity zones, airport, access to rights, crèche, on the Marc-Bernard media library, school catering, Unesco, the numerous public service delegations, the Costières stadium… I do not want to draw up the exhaustive list here, we will soon have the opportunity to take stock. »

For Vincent Bouget, from this assessment, the broad outlines are already known, the mandate did not hold many surprises, it is the end of a cycle which lasted a quarter of a century. “ Collectively, we have fully played our role as a vigilant and constructive opposition, as a voice for the people of Nîmes and in particular for the most vulnerable. We will continue to do so until the end, working on all the files, which means that sometimes we have the impression of knowing them at least as well as the elected representatives of the majority… »

It is true that a few victories, “ too rare », are to the credit of Nîmes Citoyenne à Gauche. Maintaining the Gambetta Post Office, reducing bus fares for schools, “ before the price was recently revised upwards “. The home service for green waste for elderly people who cannot go to a recycling center… And the list has also sometimes been able to draw attention to certain subjects, such as with the Costières stadium, ” history will have proven us right. »

« At the dawn of this new year, and as new municipal elections approach, which will have escaped no one's notice, let's make a reasoned and bold bet. The challenge of democracy. We have observed and suffered, for years in our country, a major political crisis, a deep democratic crisis. The spring is broken, the Republican promise damaged. »

On February 11, a collective from Nîmes with diverse commitments will present their work. Around a hundred interviews with people from Nîmes in all their diversity, age, place of residence, seniority, socio-professional category, political opinion. And, for once, 15 hours of testimony which will have to be reduced to around twenty minutes… These reasonings will launch the debates for the next municipal elections. The debates and necessarily the avenues of work.

The trailer for the “film” screened on February 11 and which should be used to launch debates for the next municipal elections. For what ? “ To recognize the people of Nîmes whoever they are, wherever they live, their democratic dignity, to formulate, together, the questions that are asked of us and then propose, together, the answers. Choices have to be made, at all scales and in particular by all of us who live here. »

Remember that the latest figures from INSEE indicate that 43,000 Nîmes live below the poverty line. Of the city's 150,000 inhabitants, that's a lot! These figures, more than alarming, add to the settling of scores linked to trafficking and prevent us from living peacefully. “ The social, societal, climatic and technological challenges are before us, right in front of us. We have to decide now. Decide how we are going to perpetuate the history of a two-thousand-year-old city, rich in its past, all its past, ancient, medieval, contemporary, a city which gave Rome an emperor, which saw the birth of Rabaut Saint-Etienne, deputy of the Third Estate and co-drafter of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, but also Bernard Lazare, one of the first defenders of Dreyfus, and Marc Bernard, Goncourt prize and whose name given to a media library testified to the social and cultural ambition of the city. »

The chosen one finds this future most exciting. But the electoral deadlines are fast approaching and we will soon have to come out of the woods. “ The submission of lists for the next municipal elections will be done in due time, this is when we will really know the applicants. Today, I ask for nothing other than to work and set ideas and people in motion. I assume my responsibilities and I am completely determined. I form a new wish, that of finding at my side all the forces for progress in the city who share the conviction, beyond national strategic or tactical considerations, that the pooling of our sensitivities and our strengths, is both a necessary condition but also an enriching process for everyone. » Vincent Bouget assures us, kindness will be the condition for respect and esteem for others. The chosen one will end with a text by Paul Éluard, taken from the collection Latest love poems.